Sunday, February 17, 2019

Copycat Attack: Pulwama Similar To Recent Attack In Iran

Copycat Attack: Pulwama Similar To Recent Attack In Iran

Home ministry sources said country security managers should keep an eye on emerging trends in terrorism in the immediate surroundings and sensitise formations as soon as possible

NEW DELHI: Thursday’s terror attack at Pulwama mirrors a suicide bombing in Iran’s Sistan-Baluchistan border province a day earlier which left 27 elite Revolutionary Guards dead and 13 others wounded.

According to sources in security agencies, the modus operandi was similar—ramming an explosive-laden vehicle into a bus carrying soldiers. In both cases, the terror outfits that claimed responsibility for the bombings have the same first name -- Jaish.

While Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad has claimed responsibility for the Pulwama attack, which killed over 40 CRPF soldiers, it was Jaish al-Adl (Army of Justice), a Sunni Muslim militant organisation, which said the Iran bombing was their act.

Home ministry sources said country security managers should keep an eye on emerging trends in terrorism in the immediate surroundings and sensitise formations as soon as possible.

According to international reports, a unit of Revolutionary Guards in south-eastern Iran was returning in a bus from the Pakistan border on Wednesday when an explosive-laden car blew up on Khash-Zahedan road, killing all security personnel on board.

Jaish al-Adl has resorted to violence since 2012, calling it a fight for the rights of Iranian Sunnis who, it alleges, are facing discrimination at the hands of the Shia regime.

According to the sources cited earlier, though terrorists allegedly based in Pakistan, or backed by it, have been using IEDs for big strikes in Afghanistan and elsewhere, the Pulwana attack signals that Pakistan’s intelligence agency ISI wants to further localise terrorism to escape international heat.

Terming the Kashmir attack as the Pakistani military establishment’s design against India, the sources said that in hindsight, the giveaway had come a few months ago when retired Lt General Amjad Shoib of the Pakistan army had reportedly said during a discussion on a news channel that soon Kashmiri youths would go for suicide attacks to take revenge against the Indian forces and the government.